Last month it was confirmed that the sole Ulster Unionist MP Sylvia Hermon would not be seeking re-election at the general election under the joint UUP/Conservative banner. She has long been sceptical about the alliance and I speculated that she may yet stand again as an Independent.

My suspicions have proved correct. This morning she has announced that she has resigned from the UUP and will indeed stand in North Down as an Independent.

The Conservative and Unionist candidate in the seat will be North Down councillor Ian Parsley, who defected from the Alliance Party to the Conservatives last September. He explained his move in this post for ConservativeHome at the time.

Eight further candidates have today been endorsed to stand in constituencies in Northern Ireland under the joint Conservative and Unionist banner. They are:

Antrim East – Rodney McCune

Antrim North – Irwin Armstrong

Belfast North – Fred Cobain

Belfast South – Paula Bradshaw

Down North – Ian Parsley

Fermanagh and South Tyrone – Tom Elliott

Foyle – David Harding

Londonderry East – Lesley McAuley

Yesterday shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson and UUP leader Sir Reg Empey wrote this article in the Belfast News Letter emphasising the benefits to the people of Nothern Ireland of the electoral alliance between the Conservatives and UUP:

"By standing jointly as Conservatives and Unionists we will be the only
party in Northern Ireland at the General Election offering people the
chance to support and shape truly national politics. We will be giving
people here the chance to vote for a party that can actually form the
government of the United Kingdom... If the Conservatives win the election,
Conservative and Unionist MPs from Northern Ireland will be able to
play a full role in a Conservative Government. That includes being
eligible to serve as ministers."

"To listen to some commentators or parties here, you would think that
the idea of having normal politics is an affront. These people seem to
have their own selfish strategic interests in maintaining Northern
Ireland as a political backwater – either from the standpoint of a
little Ulster mentality or because they want to portray Northern
Ireland as a failed entity. We believe that Northern Ireland deserves
better.

"Conservatives and Unionists will be backing a government
committed to tackling our national debt, promoting economic growth,
delivering social justice and strengthening society; we will improve
our public services and maintain our security in an increasingly
dangerous world. It is only the Conservatives and Unionists who
are committed to ending the scandal of double-jobbing that scars
politics in this part of the United Kingdom."

There is now just one outstanding selection in Northern Ireland, Antrim South.

Yesterday's selection in Hyndburn was the last seat in England to pick its Conservative candidate, and the selections in mid-February in Aberavon, Neath and Ogmore were the final vacancies in Wales to be filled.

There remain four seats to select a Conservative candidate in Scotland along with the remaining nine constituencies in Northern Ireland.

It was confirmed last night that Sylvia Hermon, Ulster Unionist MP for North Down, will not be seeking re-election under the joint Tory/UUP banner at the general election.

This does not come as a great surprise, since she has never been known to be a great supporter of the electoral alliance the two parties have forged and has been viewed at Westminster as largely sympathetic to New Labour. She may yet stand in North Down as an Independent.

The UUP has nominated candidates for the other 17 seats in Northern Ireland, as reproduced on the BBC website; now the Conservatives have to finalise their nominees for the province's 18 seats, before the candidate selection process is finalised when the Conservative and Ulster Unionist Joint Committee meets to settle which candidates will stand in which seats.